Fishing tournaments are becoming more popular and commonplace in America. To compete, a fisherman must bring the live fish he has caught to an official weigh station. Fishing boats are generally equipped with a number of ‘live wells’ in which fish are placed and stored until the weigh-in, which may happen hours after fish are caught. Ideally, a fisherman will handle his catch carefully and as little as possible to prevent damage or injury to the fish and or himself. A separate container is useful to carry the fish to the scales. A collapsible bag which fists into a live well is preferable because of the ease of storage and the ease of getting the bag into and out of the rigid ‘live well’ in the boat.
A game or sport fish which is caught by the angler is individually inserted into such a bag, which is then closed with the fish inside. The bag and fish may be placed safely in a live well. Later, the bag with the fish inside is weighed. The fish may be released or the bag and fish may be returned to the live well. The bag protects the fish from the live well environment and the damage caused by human contact, while allowing the fish to be easily identified and retrieved.
Ideally, when a fish is intended to be released, human handling should be kept to a minimum. Human contact can transmit fungus or other contagious disease to the fish. Contact with the fish can damage the fish's mucous layer which lubricates the fish in the water. Caught fish can be conveniently handled and stored in a live, healthy condition, avoiding unnecessary touching of the fish, enabling a greater degree of safety to the fish. Therefore, the fish can be released in a healthier condition. Also, when the fish are weighed, the bag provides a suitable means to separate the water from the fish, enabling immediate weighing without human contact with the fish, thereby allowing the entire process from the initial capture to final release to occur with minimal direct human contact. Like any other animal, fish require oxygen. Anything which contains fish needs to contain oxygen but needs to be able to rid itself of carbon dioxide.
Conventional tournament weigh-in bags currently available to anglers in the recreational fishing market do not provide any oxygen and carbon dioxide gas exchange and typically utilize corners where the fish congregate causing crowding and reducing the concentration of oxygen in the water available to the fish.